Apple rejects an app for offensive words on Twitter — iPhone app developer Loren Brichter is mad as hell. Why? Because Apple has rejected the latest version of his brilliant Twitter app, Tweetie. So what did Britcher do wrong? Well, nothing. — The problem, at least according to Brichter …

The Chinese iTunes Gift Voucher Trick — While there are some legitimate digital music download sites in China - including 9Sky, Top100 and the recently launched Wawawa - digital music is proving to be a tough sell in the P.R.C, partly because of the market dominance of Baidu's free mp3 search.

conspiracy fodder: pifts.exe — Several readers wrote in with samples of a file PIFTS.exe that seems to be related to a Norton update and gets flagged for its behavior. — The file has been confirmed to call home to stats.norton.com . — The truly bizarre are the mentions that the support forums …

Rumor: Samsung A877 to launch 3/29 for AT&T — This just in ... According to an anonymous source, it looks like Samsung A877 will be launching through AT&T on March 29. If you're in the market for a sweet messaging phone, this might be one worth waiting for. — 3.2" WQVGA AMOLED touchscreen

FCC promises open process on national broadband strategy — Get ready for an excruciatingly inclusive process in figuring out how the government will implement its national broadband strategy. — Interim Federal Communications Commission Chair Michael Copps was clearly feeling his oats …

Ex-Googler Launching iPhone App For Popular Barflies — Dennis Crowley's mobile social networking service Dodgeball — est. 2004 — was ahead of the game, but never took off. And Google (GOOG) — which bought the service in 2005 — shut it down last Friday. So what's next?

Gmail down; outage could last 36 hours for some — Google calls outage ‘minor’ — IDG News Service) Google Inc.'s Gmail e-mail service is down for an undetermined number of users, and while the outage has been partially fixed, some people could be locked out of their accounts for many more hours.

27 Huge Publishers Join To Replace The Banner — 27 publishers with a reach of about 109 million unique visitors per month — that's 66% of the total U.S. Internet audience — have agreed to try one of three new online ad formats sometime before July. The publishers are all members of the online publishers association (OPA).

Google and Cisco Eyed as Possible Dow Candidates — Google and Cisco are viewed as top contenders to enter the Dow Jones industrial average now that two constituents are trading below $2, making their status as blue chips tenuous, Reuters said. — The Internet companies are among a variety …

Is IE8 the end of the line for Internet Explorer? — Dropping IE in favor of a newer rendering engine may be not be as easy as it seems — IE8 is the last version of the Internet Explorer Web browser. At least, that's what I'm hearing through the grapevine.

AOL Layoffs In Progress — As expected, many AOLers in Dulles started receiving “the email” yesterday afternoon. The email asks them to attend an “important meeting” this morning—at which they will be fired. — This is the way AOL's layoffs have been handled over the past several years, with depressing regularity.

Last.FM joins Google's rights row — Online music service Last.fm has waded into the row between YouTube and the Performing Right Society. — Founder Martin Stiksel said he hoped a resolution could be found to avoid illegal services from taking over. — He urged both parties to find a …

San Francisco to be “Twitterfied” — I'm not entirely sure what Twitter chief executive Evan Williams means when he tweets “We are twitterfying SF!,” but I'm just a little terrified of it. — Williams sent the tweet following a meeting with San Francisco's mayor Gavin Newsom this morning at Twitter's offices.

Windows Into Lives After a Layoff — Rachel Levy had 10 years of marketing experience and an M.B.A. from a top business school when she was laid off in July. Rather than keep her feelings about the situation private, Ms. Levy started a blog to chronicle her life post-layoff.